Friends Of The Earth Director issues climate challenge to Northern Ireland Executive

The Northern Ireland Executive has yet to pledge to any cuts in the region's carbon dioxide emissions, despite backing plans for a UK-wide law to tackle climate change. Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper will urge Stormont politicians to commit Northern Ireland to annual cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, when he attends a public meeting in Belfast on Wednesday 10 October.

Mr Juniper who is speaking at a public meeting will also tell local business leaders, civic leaders and activists that urgent action on climate change is crucial, and that many of the solutions already exist.

We can play a key role in developing a low-carbon economy

Through The Big Ask climate campaign, Friends of the Earth has led the campaign for the British Parliament to introduce a new law to cut UK carbon dioxide emissions. Labour has agreed to legislate and is due to introduce a Climate Change Bill next month. But, although welcoming the move, Friends of the Earth says that the proposals must be tougher to be effective.

Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper said:

Tony Juniper will also urge Northern Ireland politicians to call on the Government to strengthen its proposals for a new climate law.

Tony Juniper will be in Northern Ireland on 10 October. He will be speaking at the Black Box on Hill Street in the Cathedral Quarter at 8PM tonight (Wednesday). The event is open to the public and free to enter.

The Big Ask campaign

The Big Ask campaign has been running since the summer of 2006. Using constituency pressure to persuade MPs to support strong legislation on climate change, it won a major victory in November 2006 when a draft Climate Change Bill was announced in the Queen's Speech, thanks to over 400 MPs signing an Early Day Motion calling for such a bill to be introduced to Parliament.

The Big Ask campaign has now moved onto persuading MPs to call for the Bill to be as strong as possible. Campaigners are calling for three amendments to be made to the Bill, namely:

• that a target be set of an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 (based on 1990 levels)
• that emissions from aviation and shipping travelling to and from the UK be included in that final figure
• that smaller targets (of at least three per cent) should be set on a year by year basis to ensure that all future UK governments are held accountable for their responsibility to reduce carbon emissions.

Gordon Brown strongly implied that he was considering agreeing to the first of these demands (the 80% target) in his speech to the Labour Party Conference in September.